Sixers’ futility reminds DeRozan of seasons past
Once-struggling Raptors see bit of themselves in next foe, now league’s laughingstock
When DeMar DeRozan was in the throes of life in the NBA’s cellar, playing on a 22-win Raptors team in 2010-11 and two teams after that which missed the playoffs, he tried to stay positive.
“One thing I kept in mind — all of the top players, my favourite players growing up — I looked at their careers and a lot of them had losing seasons,” DeRozan said after Saturday’s practice at the Air Canada Centre.
“Sometimes you have to go through that to understand how hard it is to really win and get to the playoffs and go to the next level. Sometimes it can be a blessing, but it sucks at the same time because you have to learn the hard way.”
At 1-23 this season and with 18- and 19-win seasons before that, the Philadelphia 76ers are well on their way to a PhD in hard-learned lessons. Theirs is an unprecedented level of prolonged losing, the kind that makes other NBA team take notice, one that makes the ghosts of Clippers teams past shake their heads.
“They’re one of the youngest teams in the league along with Milwaukee and still they’re very talented,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said, likely very leery of supplying a one-win team with bulletin-board material the day before they meet.
“We can’t look at them and look at their record. Our nemesis this year has been looking at people’s record and believing the hype that we’ve arrived or whatever it is, and it’s not that way. We’re still a climbing, growing team that’s got to be the hungry team on the floor. If we don’t play that way we put ourselves in a tough position.”
Philly GM/president Sam Hinkie’s “process”has been under fire since he took the job in 2013. His team is young and decidedly lacking veterans. Rookie Jahlil Okafor caught a two-game suspension this week for an altercation at a bar that was caught on film. In the wake of that controversy, the team added Jerry Colangelo as chairman of basketball operations. The Sixers also added two more years on to coach Brett Brown’s contract on Friday, and a Yahoo! Sports report began to circulate on Friday night that the Sixers are looking to add Mike D’Antoni as an associate head coach, potentially to add experience to a young staff.
In the midst of all of this, those young players are trying to find their footing in the pros. What makes it especially hard is that in the case of such a young team, this is the first serious stretch of losing they’ve encountered in their basketball lives.
“I’m not commenting on Philly’s situation, but most players come out of AAU programs, high school programs, and are used to winning and it’s difficult,” Casey said. “Every NBA situation is different. Some teams are ready to win a championship and some teams are building. You have to be ready to handle the ups as well as the downs in the NBA.”
“It’s tough to make that transition, and with that amount of games, too,” DeRozan said. “It’s different. In high school, you could go 22-1 and that’s your season. It’s different when you’re 1-22 and you’ve got 60 more games to play. I can’t imagine (the Sixers) mental mindset, but we have to go in there and play tough and get this win.”
On a human level, players feel for these young guys going through a painfully bad season. On the other side of that, though, no one wants to be the team to lose to the guys with just one win.
“It sucks to lose, man, but I can’t imagine being like that,” DeRozan said.
“I had a couple of losing years too. It’s really tough, mentally. But we need the win and you can’t have too much sympathy for them because they want to win, too.
“After we win, we can feel more sorry for them.”
“Our nemesis this year has been looking at people’s record and believing the hype that we’ve arrived or whatever it is, and it’s not that way.” RAPTORS COACH DWANE CASEY